Online applications coming for JCDC festival

Entrants in the festival competitions staged by the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) will be able to apply electronically next year.

The online platform, which should be ready by February 2017, is being created by students from the Vocational Training Development Institute (VTDI).

Head of the School of Applied Technology at the VTDI, Carolyn O'Connor, said that nine students who completed diplomas after two years of study were assigned to work alongside the JCDC, beginning in May 2016, to design an online entry platform, as well as a mobile application for the Android market. This should also be rolled out in February 2017.

Marie McKenzie, information and communication technology (ICT) manager at the JCDC, said that the application is going to be exciting. "You will be able to take quizzes that test your knowledge about Jamaica," she added.

Additionally, it will accommodate application entries, allow users to track the entries, give access to JCDC's social media accounts and content, and also allow users to play cultural games.

Persons will also be able to see the results of the competitions using these systems.

The students are also working on improving the JCDC's internal systems to accommodate the implementation of the electronic system pilot programme.

pilot project in February

The ICT manager said that the JCDC is currently accepting applications for the festival competitions manually, but hopes to start accepting them electronically in a pilot project for some of the contests in February 2017.

"This is the way to go," she said, adding that the JCDC "forms alliances and partnerships with the technical schools and tertiary schools to help us solve the issues that we have".

She noted further that this also "gives our students real-world experience where they are able to make a contribution to the country".

The apprenticeship programme is being undertaken under a two-year memorandum of understanding signed in March between VTDI and the JCDC.